How to Choose the Right Electrician Vocational School near Durant Mississippi
The initial step to learning to be an electrical contractor or tradesman is enrolling in an electrician trade school near Durant MS. But with numerous technical schools to select from, just how do you undertake making sure that you enroll in the ideal one? Particularly because there are a number of factors to evaluate. For instance, many prospective students will commence by looking for schools that are nearby their residence. When they have identified several that are within driving distance, they will select the one with the least expensive tuition. While cost and location are important, they are not the sole things that must be considered. Also important are the reputations of the schools, their accreditation, along with their job placement and graduation rates. These and additional qualifications should influence your final judgment when picking an electrician trade school. We will discuss that checklist in greater detail later in this post. But first, let’s review a little bit about being an electrician and the educational options that are available.
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Electrician Degree, Certificate and Diploma Programs
There are several approaches to get electrician training in a vocational or trade school near Durant MS. You may select a diploma or certificate program, or earn an Associate Degree. Bachelor’s Degrees are available at some schools, but are not as common as the other three alternatives. Often these programs are made available in conjunction with an apprenticeship, which are mandated by the majority of states to be licensed or if you want to earn certification. Following are short summaries of the three most common programs offered.
- Certificate and Diploma Programs are usually offered by Mississippi technical and trade schools and require about a year to complete. They furnish a solid foundation and are geared towards students who would like to enter an apprenticeship faster as a journeyman electrician.
- Associate Degrees involve two years to finish and are provided by Mississippi junior or community colleges, commonly as an Associate Degree in Electrical Technology. They offer a more well-rounded education while providing the foundation that readies students to join their apprenticeship program.
As earlier stated, Bachelor’s Degree programs are offered at certain Mississippi colleges, but are less popular at 4 years than the other shorter programs. The majority of states require that an apprenticeship of no less than 2 years and in most cases 4 years be completed prior to licensing. For that reason, many students are anxious to start their paid apprenticeship, especially if it’s not part of their academic program.
Electrician Licensing and Certification Guidelines
Electricians in Durant MS can carry out a vast array of duties, including installing, replacing and testing electrical systems, and making sure that the wiring in buildings and homes are up to code standards. After finishing an apprenticeship, journeyman electricians are required to become licensed in most states or municipalities. The length of apprenticeship varies by state, but usually around four to five years of practical experience is needed in order to take the licensing exam. The exams usually test electrical theory and general knowledge, along with knowledge of the National Electrical Code (NEC). Obtaining certification is also a voluntary method for an electrician to identify her or himself as a experienced and skilled professional. The certifications available differ by state and may be obtained in various specializations, including cable splicing as an example. The certification procedure in most cases involves three levels of proficiency:
- An experience requirement
- Passing a written exam
- Passing a practical exam
Examples of certifying organizations include the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (NJATC) and also the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET). It’s crucial that the electrician tech school that you pick not only furnishes a solid academic foundation, but also helps prep you for passing any certification and licensing examinations that you may be required to pass in the future.
Attending Electrician Online Training Classes
An option that you might have considered is enrolling in an online electrician school to earn a certificate or degree. Even though online training programs are becoming more popular as a way of attending class without needing to travel, in this instance they are not entirely internet based. Virtually all electrician training programs require some attendance on campus to receive practical hands-on training. But since the remainder of the classes may be accessed online, internet learning may be a more practical option for students that have minimal time for education. And as a bonus many online schools have a cheaper tuition cost compared to their on campus counterparts. Driving expenses from Durant MS are also reduced and a portion of the study materials may be accessed online as well. All of these advantages can make online electrician trade schools more affordable and convenient. And many are fully accredited, which we will deal with in our due diligence checklist.
Points to Ask Electrician Vocational Schools
Now that you have made a decision to earn a certificate, diploma or degree, you can start to narrow down your school options. Considering that there are numerous electrician tech and trade schools in the Durant MS area, it’s imperative to have a checklist of qualifications that each school must meet. The first 2 that we discussed were location and tuition expense. If you have an interest in earning an online degree, then that needs to be an option that your chosen school offers. And even though all three qualifiers may be crucial when making your determination, there are additional variables that must be considered as well. Following is a checklist of those added qualifiers that you will need to analyze before choosing an electrical tech school.
Accreditation. Numerous electrician trade programs have received either a regional or a national accreditation. They can acquire Institutional Accreditation, which involves the school’s programs as a whole, or Programmatic Accreditation, which relates to a specific program, such as electrical technology. Verify that the Durant MS school and program are accredited by a U.S. Department of Education acknowledged accrediting agency, for instance the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. Along with helping guarantee that you acquire an excellent education, it can help in obtaining financial aid or student loans, which are in many cases not available for non-accredited schools. Additionally, a number of states require that the electrician training program be accredited for it to be approved for licensing.
High Completion and Placement Rates. Ask the electrician training programs you are reviewing what their completion rates are. The completion rate is the percentage of students who enroll in and finish the course. A low completion rate could signify that students were dissatisfied with the program and dropped out. It might also indicate that the instructors were not qualified to train the students. It’s also imperative that the schools have higher job placement rates. Older and/or more reputable schools may have a more extensive directory of alumni, which may result in more contacts for the school to utilize for their apprenticeship and job placement programs. A high job placement rate will not only validate that the school has an excellent reputation within the trade, but also that it has the network of contacts to assist Durant MS students secure apprenticeships or employment.
Apprenticeship Programs. Numerous electrician vocational programs are taught in conjunction with an apprenticeship or an internship program. Those participating vocational and trade schools will help place you in an apprenticeship program within their network of electrical contractors or labor unions. Ask if the schools you are considering have working relationships with Durant MS area electricians or electrical professionals. An apprenticeship not only offers a rewarding experience by supplying practical training, but it also furnishes employment opportunities and helps to form relationships in the local electrician professional community.
Modern Facilities. Make certain that the school facilities and the tools that you will be instructed on are state-of-the-art and what you will be using in the field. If you are currently in an internship or an apprenticeship, talk to the electrical tech you are working under regarding what you should be looking for. Otherwise, ask a local Durant MS electrical contracting company if they can provide some pointers. Additionally bear in mind that unless you can relocate, the school needs to be within commuting distance of your Durant residence. Remember that if you decide to enroll in an out-of-state school, besides the added relocation costs there can be higher tuition charges compared to in-state residents.
Smaller Classes. It’s desirable that you receive as much individualized instruction as possible, which can be challenging in bigger classes. Ask if you can sit in on a few of the classes so that you can see how big they are and experience the interaction between students and teachers. Speak with some of the students and get their comments regarding class sizes and instruction. Finally, talk with a few of the instructors and find out what their level of experience is and what certifications or degrees they hold.
Flexible Scheduling. Make sure that the class schedules for the schools you are reviewing are flexible enough to fulfill your needs. If you can only attend classes in the evening or on weekends near Durant MS, verify that the schools you are looking at offer those choices. If you can only attend part-time, make certain that the school you select permits part-time enrollment. Additionally, ask what the policy is to make-up classes should you miss any because of work, illness or family emergencies.
Train To Be An Electrician Durant Mississippi
Picking the ideal electrical training program will undoubtedly be the most critical decision you will make to launch your new career. You originally came to this website due to an interest in Train To Be An Electrician and wanting more information on the topic Schools That Offer Electrician Training. But as we have discussed in this article, there are several factors that you will need to assess and compare among the schools you are considering. It’s a must that any electrician training that you are reviewing includes a considerable amount of hands-on training. Classes should be smaller in size and every student should have their personal equipment to train with. Classroom instruction should offer a real-world perspective, and the training program should be current and conform with industry standards. Training programs differ in duration and the type of credential offered, so you will have to determine what length of program and degree or certificate will best fulfill your needs. Every program offers unique possibilities for certification also. Perhaps The ideal means to research your short list of schools is to visit each campus and speak with the students and instructors. Invest some time to attend some classes. Inspect the campus and facilities. Make sure that you are confident that the training program you pick is the right one for you. With the proper training, effort and commitment, the final result will be a new occupation as a professional electrician in Durant MS.
More Electric Locations in Mississippi
Durant, Mississippi
Durant is a city near the central eastern border of Holmes County, Mississippi, United States. It was founded in 1858 as a station on the Mississippi Central Railroad, later part of the Illinois Central. Durant was named for Louis Durant, a Choctaw chief who had lived on a bluff just across the nearby Big Black River before the United States undertook Indian Removal in the 1830s.
Before the Civil War, this was known as the "dark corner of the county."[4] Cotton plantations were developed along the waterfronts to take advantage of the fertile soil. They were dependent on the labor of numerous black slaves, and the county population was majority black and enslaved.
About 1935 Hazel Brannon Smith, a recent college graduate from Gadsden, Alabama, bought the local weekly newspaper, the Durant News, which had been failing. Over the next several years, she turned it around, and served as its editor and publisher into the early 1970s. In the 1950s she also acquired the Lexington Advertiser, and later two other small papers. She was among the first journalists to cover the African-American community for its positive contributions, noting in 1943 that a local civic group had donated money to the Red Cross. Later she became well known for her editorial writing about the civil rights movement; Holmes County had many activists involved in education and voter registration. In 1964 Smith was the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing.[5]
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